We’ve all written surveys and imagined ourselves taking surveys. They’re not THAT bad, surely? We’re not THAT horrible at writing surveys, right? After all, we have years of experience and we’ve seen far worse than what we’ve just written. Why, just yesterday, we laughed our heads off at one of our competitor’s surveys.

If you’re that sure of yourself, try this. Print out that survey you just finished writing and bring it home to your spouse, your mom, your aunt, your nephew. Put it on the table and sit across from them while they answer it. Watch their face and specifically look for these signs:

Also watch out for these verbal indicators:

“Do I have to?”

“Oh my God, how many pages is this?”

“This makes no sense.”

“What the heck does nutritional value of chewing gum mean?”

“But I don’t even chew gum.”

If you felt bad or guilty about putting your spouse through this experience, why do you keep doing it? Now is the time to meet with your team, meet with your boss, meet with your CEO and figure out how to solve the problem. Radical.

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4 responses

Here is a variation: Don’t tell your spouse/aunt/mom/nephew that you made this survey. Pick any (imaginary or real) bad guy (boss, collegue, customer) and tell them they made it. This will make them much more willing to criticize.

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I'm a market research methodologist who blogs about sampling, surveys, statistics, charts, and more. My goal is to keep research real, current, and fun. I approve and post every single comment that makes it through my spam filter, usually within 24 hours.

I am the Editor-In-Chief of MRIA's Vue magazine, Canada's market research magazine. If you'd like to be an author, I'd love to publish your article. Release your inner expert!